The multiple choice problem type is a core problem type that can be added to
any course. At a minimum, multiple choice problems include a question or
prompt and several answer options. By adding hints, feedback, or both, you can
give learners guidance and help when they work on a problem.

In multiple choice problems, learners select one option from a list of answer
options. Unlike dropdown problems, where the answer choices
do not appear until the learner selects the dropdown arrow, answer choices for
multiple choice problems are immediately visible directly below the question.

Multiple choice problems can also have several advanced options, such as
reordering, or shuffling, the set of answer choices for each learner. For more
information about these options, see Advanced Options for Multiple Choice Problems.

<problem><multiplechoiceresponse><label>Lateral inhibition, as was first discovered in the horseshoe crab:</label><choicegrouptype="MultipleChoice"><choicecorrect="false">is a property of touch sensation, referring to
the ability of crabs to detect nearby predators.</choice><choicecorrect="false">is a property of hearing, referring to the
ability of crabs to detect low frequency noises.</choice><choicecorrect="false">is a property of vision, referring to the
ability of crabs' eyes to enhance contrasts.</choice><choicecorrect="true">has to do with the ability of crabs to use
sonar to detect fellow horseshoe crabs nearby.</choice><choicecorrect="false">has to do with a weighting system in the
crab's skeleton that allows it to balance in turbulent water.</choice></choicegroup><solution><divclass="detailed-solution"><p>Explanation</p><p>Horseshoe crabs were essential to the discovery of lateral
inhibition, a property of vision present in horseshoe crabs as well
as humans that enables enhancement of contrast at edges of objects
as was demonstrated in class. In 1967, Haldan Hartline received the
Nobel prize for his research on vision and in particular his
research investigating lateral inhibition using horseshoe crabs.</p></div></solution></multiplechoiceresponse></problem>

EdX recommends the use, whenever possible, of authentic assessment rather than
multiple choice questions for graded problems. The use of authentic assessment
in online courses tends to lead to better learning outcomes. In addition,
authentic assessment allows for infinite attempts, mastery learning, and more
intellectual risk taking, which lead to substantially better learning outcomes.

Multiple choice questions do have these uses.

Ungraded multiple choice questions can help students think about a concept in
the context of knowledge transfer.

For many subject areas, authentic assessments are either unavailable or
prohibitively complex to use. In such courses, multiple choice questions can
act as the only available fall back.

Fortunately, multiple choice questions are among the best studied in assessment
literature. A few guidelines for the creation of such questions follow.

Organize the set of answers logically. Use consistent phrasing for the
answers, and when possible, parallel structure.

Place as many of the words in the stem as possible, and keep the answers as
concise as possible.

The distractors should not be substantially shorter, longer, or use different
structure than the correct answer. The answer options should be as consistent
in structure, length, and phrasing as possible.

Avoid using negatives (and especially double negatives) in the question and
the answers.

You can begin work on the problem in the simple editor, and then
switch to the advanced editor. However, after you save any changes you make
in the advanced editor, you cannot switch back to the simple editor.

For an overview of feedback in problems, see Adding Feedback and Hints to a Problem. You can add feedback for each of the answer options you provide in
the problem. Use the following guidelines when providing feedback.

Add feedback to incorrect answers to target common misconceptions and
mistakes.

Ensure feedback provides some guidance to the learner about how to arrive at
the correct answer.

Add feedback for the correct answer to reinforce why the answer is correct.
Because learners are able to guess, ensure that feedback provides a reason
why the answer is correct for learners who might have selected that answer by
chance.

You can add feedback in a multiple choice problem using the simple editor
or the advanced editor.

You can configure feedback in the simple editor. When
you add a multiple choice problem, select the template Multiple Choice
with Hints and Feedback. This template has example feedback syntax that you
can replace.

()answer{{Feedbackforlearnerswhoselectthisanswer.}}

For example, the following problem has feedback for every answer option.

>>Which of the following is an example of a vegetable?||You can select only one option.<<
( ) apple {{An apple is the fertilized ovary that comes from an apple tree
and contains seeds classifying it as a fruit.}}
( ) pumpkin {{A pumpkin is the fertilized ovary of a squash plant and
contains seeds classifying it as a fruit.}}
(x) potato {{A potato is an edible part of a plant in tuber form and is
classified as a vegetable}}
( ) tomato {{Many people mistakenly think a tomato is a vegetable. However,
because a tomato is the fertilized ovary of a tomato plant and contains
seeds it is classified as a fruit.}}

In the advanced editor, you configure feedback with the following syntax.

<choicecorrect="false">Choice Label
<choicehint>Feedback for when learner selects this answer.</choicehint></choice>

For example, the following problem has feedback for each answer.

<problem><multiplechoiceresponse><label>Which of the following is an example of a vegetable?</label><description>You can select only one option.</description><choicegrouptype="MultipleChoice"><choicecorrect="false">apple
<choicehint>An apple is the fertilized ovary that comes from an apple
tree and contains seeds classifying it as a fruit.</choicehint></choice><choicecorrect="false">pumpkin
<choicehint>A pumpkin is the fertilized ovary of a squash plant
and contains seeds classifying it as a fruit.</choicehint></choice><choicecorrect="true">potato
<choicehint>A potato is an edible part of a plant in tuber form and
is classified as a vegetable.</choicehint></choice><choicecorrect="false">tomato
<choicehint>Many people mistakenly think a tomato is a vegetable.
However, because a tomato is the fertilized ovary of a tomato plant
and contains seeds it is classified as a fruit.</choicehint></choice></choicegroup></multiplechoiceresponse></problem>

The default labels Correct and Incorrect display in the learner’s
requested language. If you provide custom labels, they display as you define
them to all learners. They are not translated into different languages.

In the advanced editor, you configure custom feedback
labels with the following syntax.

<choicecorrect="true or false">Answer
<choicehintlabel="Custom Label">Feedback for learners who select this
answer.</choicehint></choice>

For example, the feedback for the following answer option is configured to use
a custom label.

<choicecorrect="false">tomato
<choicehintlabel="Not Quite">Many people mistakenly think a tomato is a
vegetable. However, because a tomato is the fertilized ovary of a tomato
plant and contains seeds, it is a fruit.</choicehint></choice>

To configure a multiple choice problem to award partial credit for a specific
answer, you add the following attributes to the problem OLX.

Add the partial_credit="points" attribute to the
<multiplechoiceresponse> element.

For each answer that you intend to award partial credit, in the <choice>
element set the value of the correct attribute to "partial".

Optionally, define the percentage of the problem score to award for each
answer. Add the point_value attribute to the <choice> element, and
enter its value as a decimal. For example, add point_value="0.25" to
award 25% of the points to learners who select that answer. The percentage
awarded should reflect how close the learner has gotten to a full
understanding of the concept. If you do not add the point_value
attribute, the system uses the default of 50%.

For example, the following OLX shows a multiple choice problem that
provides partial credit of 25% for an answer option.

<problem><multiplechoiceresponsepartial_credit="points"><label>Which of the following is a vegetable?</label><choicegrouptype="MultipleChoice">
.
.
.
<choicecorrect="partial"point_value="0.25">tomato </choice></choicegroup></multiplechoiceresponse></problem>

<problem><multiplechoiceresponse><label>Question or prompt text</label><description>Optional information about how to answer the question</description><choicegrouptype="MultipleChoice"><choicecorrect="false"name="a">Incorrect choice
<choicehint>Hint for incorrect choice.</choicehint></choice><choicecorrect="true"name="b">Correct choice
<choicehint>Hint for correct choice.</choicehint></choice></choicegroup><solution><divclass="detailed-solution"><p>Optional header for the explanation or solution</p><p>Optional explanation or solution text</p></div></solution></multiplechoiceresponse><demandhint><hint>Hint 1</hint><hint>Hint 2</hint></demandhint></problem>

When set to "true", the choice is a correct answer. At least one
required.

When set to "false", the choice is an incorrect answer.

When set to "partial", the learner receives partial credit for
selecting the answer.

You can specify more than one correct or partially correct answer,
but learners can select only one choice to submit as their answer.

point_value

When correct="partial", indicates the percentage, as a decimal, of
the points the learner receives for selecting this option. If
point_value is not specified for a partial credit answer, 50% is
used by default.

Multiple choice problems have several advanced options. You can change the
order of answers in the problem, include explanations that appear when a
learner selects a specific incorrect answer, or present a random set of
choices to each learner. For more information, see the following sections.

You can also shuffle some answers, but not others. For example, you might
want to include the answer “All of the above” and have it always appear at the
end of the list, but shuffle the other answers.

You can configure the problem to shuffle answers using the simple editor or
advanced editor. To shuffle the answers, you also edit the problem to set
Randomization to a value other than Never. For more information, see
Randomization.

You can configure the problem to shuffle answers in the
simple editor. To add shuffling to this problem, you add
an exclamation point character ! between the parentheses formatting for
the first answer option.

You can configure a multiple choice problem so that explanations for specific
answers are automatically shown to learners. You can use these explanations to
guide learners towards the right answer. Therefore, targeted feedback is most
useful for multiple choice problems for which learners are allowed multiple
attempts.

You configure the problem to provide targeted feedback by editing the OLX in
the advanced editor.

Add a targeted-feedback attribute to the <multiplechoiceresponse>
element, with no value: <multiplechoiceresponsetargeted-feedback="">.

Add an explanation-id attribute with a unique value to each of the
<choice> elements: <choicecorrect="false"explanation-id="feedback1">.

You can use the <solution> element for the correct answer.

Add a <targetedfeedbackset> element after the
<multiplechoiceresponse> element.

Within <targetedfeedbackset>, add one or more <targetedfeedback>
elements.

Within each <targetedfeedback> element, add one of the unique identifying
explanation-id attributes to map that feedback to a specific answer
choice.

Within each <targetedfeedback> element use HTML formatting, such as
<p></p> tags, to enter your explanation for the specified answer option.

For example, the OLX for a multiple choice problem follows, showing a unique ID
for each answer choice. This is immediately followed by OLX that defines the
targeted feedback.

<problem><multiplechoiceresponsetargeted-feedback=""><label>What Apple device competed with the portable CD player?</label><choicegrouptype="MultipleChoice"><choicecorrect="false"explanation-id="feedback1">The iPad</choice><choicecorrect="false"explanation-id="feedback2">Napster</choice><choicecorrect="true"explanation-id="correct">The iPod</choice><choicecorrect="false"explanation-id="feedback3">The vegetable peeler</choice></choicegroup><solutionexplanation-id="correct"><divclass="detailed-solution"><p>The iPod directly competed with portable CD players.</p></div></solution></multiplechoiceresponse><targetedfeedbackset><targetedfeedbackexplanation-id="feedback1"><divclass="detailed-targeted-feedback"><p>Targeted Feedback</p><p>The iPad came out later and did not directly compete with
portable CD players.</p></div></targetedfeedback><targetedfeedbackexplanation-id="feedback2"><divclass="detailed-targeted-feedback"><p>Targeted Feedback</p><p>Napster was not an Apple product.</p></div></targetedfeedback><targetedfeedbackexplanation-id="feedback3"><divclass="detailed-targeted-feedback"><p>Targeted Feedback</p><p>Vegetable peelers do not play music.</p></div></targetedfeedback></targetedfeedbackset></problem>

You can configure a multiple choice problem so that a random subset of choices
are shown to each learner. For example, you can add 10 possible choices to the
problem, and each learner views a set of five choices.

The answer pool must have at least one correct answer. It can have more than
one correct answer. In each set of choices shown to a learner, one correct
answer is included. For example, you can configure two correct answers in the
set of choices. One of the two correct answers is included in each set that a
learner views.

You configure the problem to provide answer pools by editing the OLX for the
problem in the advanced editor.

In the <choicegroup> element, add the answer-pool attribute, with the
numerical value indicating the number of answer options to show to learners.
For example, <choicegroupanswer-pool="4">.

If you include more than one correct answer among the options, for each
correct answer add an explanation-id attribute with a unique value to the
<choice> element: <choicecorrect="false"explanation-id="correct1">.

If you include more than one correct answer among the options, for each
<solution> element, add an explanation-id attribute and a value that
maps back to a specific correct answer. For example, <solutionexplanation-id="correct1">.

Place the <solution> elements within a <solutionset> element.

Note

If the choices include only one correct answer, you do not have to
use the explanation-id in either the <choice> or <solution>
element. You do still use the <solutionset> element to wrap the
<solution> element.

For example, for the following multiple choice problem, a learner will see
four choices. In each set, one of the choices will be one of the two correct
choices. The explanation shown for the correct answer is the one with the same
explanation ID.

<problem><multiplechoiceresponse><label>What Apple devices let you carry your digital music library in your pocket?</label><description>You can select only one option.</description><choicegrouptype="MultipleChoice"answer-pool="4"><choicecorrect="false">The iPad</choice><choicecorrect="false">Napster</choice><choicecorrect="true"explanation-id="iPod">The iPod</choice><choicecorrect="false">The vegetable peeler</choice><choicecorrect="false">The iMac</choice><choicecorrect="true"explanation-id="iPhone">The iPhone</choice></choicegroup><solutionset><solutionexplanation-id="iPod"><divclass="detailed-solution"><p>Explanation</p><p>The iPod is Apple's portable digital music player.</p></div></solution><solutionexplanation-id="iPhone"><divclass="detailed-solution"><p>Explanation</p><p>In addition to being a cell phone, the iPhone can store and play
your digital music.</p></div></solution></solutionset></multiplechoiceresponse></problem>

You can use the <script> element to programmatically set attributes and
options for your multiple choice problems. You could use this feature to
display different questions/answers depending on variable factors, like time of
day, or randomly generated numbers.